41.   Critics contest that estimate and note that foreigners make up a much smaller percentage of the prison population.

42.   Critics predict that the longer sentences will produce a large and costly increase in the prison population.

43.   Experts caution that it is not yet known whether the nationwide prison population is dropping or simply stabilizing.

44.   Fama said the Department of Corrections must find ways to reduce the prison population and find other ways of reducing violence besides merely increasing the punishment of inmates.

45.   Facing a growing prison population, the Legislature this year approved a package of measures aimed at easing crowding without sacrificing public safety.

46.   Experts say older inmates are much less likely to attempt escape than members of the prison population as a whole.

47.   For a generation, the number of state inmates imprisoned for drug crimes grew at a frantic pace, rising to nearly one-third of the prison population.

48.   Government officials said the provision is in the interests of both parties because it eliminates the uncertainty and potential problems that could occur by manipulating prison populations.

49.   He first learned that his execution had been scheduled when he was removed from the general prison population last month.

50.   He is also aware of the disproportionately high numbers of blacks among the prison population as compared to their reflected numbers in society.